Monday, November 28, 2011

A Thankful Heart

Thanksgiving is over, and the preparations for Christmas are in full swing. Each day in November I had the kids tell me one thing each that they were thankful for and we wrote it on a paper leaf and placed it with the others on our refrigerator (which has also become a bulletin board/learning board around here).

Their thoughts varied from child to child and from day to day. We got the usual: Mom and Dad, Grandma and Pappy, and then the more spiritual: our church, Jesus dying on the cross, and Jesus raising from the dead. And there was also the typical 4, 6, and 10 year old responses of my baseball bat, my new monkey, my Rudolph puppet, and my favorite from Zach "gluten-free everything", and yes, I agree with him, I am so thankful for "Gluten Free 'Everything'"--it certainly makes feeding him gluten-free much more manageable when I can purchase GF Wafffles, GF Pizza Dough and even GF Doughnuts. But, I am off the subject, so back to being thankful.



Each time we talked about being thankful I tried to emphasize to the kids that we should not just be thankful during the month of November, but we should have thankful hearts all year through. I need to remember this thought myself! The Bible teaches us to be thankful in everything. We have I Thessalonians 5:16-18 posted in a couple of places around our house. The verse says
Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you

I want this to be how my family lives their life. I want this to be how I live my life. It is so easy to forget that God gave us everything. I was born in America, the best country in the world. I was born to parents who loved me, and sacrificed to give me a better life then they had. I was in church and saved at a young age. I met a Godly young man, the man of my dreams at only 17 years old, and married Him 3 years later. I have three amazing and healthy children that God gave us in miraculous ways. All three of them have unique personalities and unique characteristics that I love more than anything. God gave me a sister and a brother that are healthy. He gave me a wonderful church that I can raise my children in. He gave me a wonderful set of in-laws, He gave me a husband that supports me in all aspects and leads our family spiritually! He gave me great friends all along the way. God gave me more than I ever deserve. Most importantly God gave me my salvation; He gave me eternal life! I want to always remember these things that God gave me. These things and so many more that I can't even list them all.



Not only do I want to remember these things, I want my children to see how thankful I am to Him for all these blessings. I want them to be thankful and have thankful hearts. I want them to "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks..."


So, tonight, with a thankful heart, I write this simply to say how thankful I am for all the many blessings in my life. We are blessed beyond belief. I did nothing to deserve it and I know it could all be taken away. But, I am truly thankful for everything in my life.

-Michelle

Sunday, November 27, 2011

The Reading Game - a review

As I have mentioned before I believe phonics is the absolute best way to teach children to read. Molly is working through a phonics curriculum, and that is working well for her. However, I do agree that there is a place for some sight reading and that if a child can learn a few words quickly they can start reading quickly and build confidence. And confidence, I have learned through teaching all three kids to read, is truly the key to reading fluently and enjoying reading. So, I was excited to try "The Reading Game" with Molly to see if some simple sight reading would increase her confidence and give her the skills to start reading the simple books that come with the game.



The Reading Game is a simple matching game that starts with just 5 words: cat, can, not, me, and is. Since Molly has had some instruction in phonics I introduced the words and we sounded them out together before playing the matching game. The goal is for the child to be able to know these 5 words instantly without having to sound them out. Molly learned these 5 words VERY quickly. We played the game three or four times the first day it arrived and by the end of those 3-4 times she knew the words. The following day I made sure she remembered the words and we then moved on to game 2: sad, she, stay, this, with. These words, as you can see, are a little tougher and not as easily sounded out phonetically. So, it took her a little longer to learn these words. After we had played the game she was so excited to point out the words to me when we came across them in other reading. One Sunday she kept pointing out the words "is" and "me" in the hymnal, she was so excited that she could read real words in a real book!



After 2 sets of cards there are sample sentences you can have your child read to make sure they can read the words without hesitation. After 6 sets of cards (or games) the child should be able to read the corresponding book. For example, the skunk cards were the first set of cards, and after the 6 sets of 10 cards each Molly was ready to read the "Skunk" book. She loved the fact that she was reading a book, with a real story, not just a couple of words on a page. The words learned in the skunk story are all able to be sounded out phonetically so it is easy to incorporate phonics in with the game, which is exactly what we did.

The game, which retails on the website for $24.95 contains six different sets of cards and the six corresponding books: "Skunk", "Snake", "Bear", "Penguins", "Unicorn", and "Zebra". By the end of the six books the student will have a 180 word reading vocabulary. I am hopeful that we will be able to get through these books this school year and really increase Molly's enjoyment of reading--not that it is a problem right now, she LOVES reading, but increasing that enjoyment is even better.


Molly loves this game and asks to play it regularly. She loves any memory-matching game, or any game that Mommy plays with her, so this is a natural way for her to add to her reading vocabulary. Also, though Zach is reading well above the level of the game he enjoyed it, and the played it together a few times.

The books themselves are great. Molly and Zach, as well as myself, like them because they are stories, not just words on a page, or separate sentences on each page that don't tell a story. The only problem I had with the book is that there is no capitalization or punctuation. I have always introduced capital letters and periods at the very beginning of reading instruction, and that has worked well for Paul and Zach. So, no punctuation is just a little strange to me.

The Reading Game can be incorporated in to any reading curriculum in private school, public school, or homeschool.

Please be sure and see what other TOS Crew Members thought of the game here.

Disclosure: We received this game for free in exchange for my honest opinion. All opinions stated here are my honest opinion. There was no other compensation given for this review.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

More Pinterest Inspiration!

Have I mentioned that I am addicted to Pinterest! I had the kids make these easy and super cute Pilgrim hats today






Its just fudge stripe cookies with chocolate covered marshmallows on top and then a little yellow icing to make he buckle. They had a blast dipping the marshmallows in chocolate and placing them on the cookies.


There is now chocolate all over my kitchen counter, but that's ok, it will all clean up. It's like the sign I saw on Pinterest that I have to make it says:
Pardon the mess, children are busy making memories!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Pinterest Addictiom

I am officially addicted to Pinterest! There, I said it. It's full of wonderful inspiration, plus it keeps anything I find while surfing the web nice and organized!

So, along with my addiction to Pinterest I am now addicted to crafts of all kinds. I already had a small addiction here but just didn't always feel inspired. Pinterest has taken care of that.

We are taking Thanksgiving week off from traditional school and enjoying some relaxation as well as crafts around here

The kids have been busy painting











And cooking...



And working on special projects with Daddy...


And, well I have been working on Homemade Christmas gifts (which will have to wait until after Christmas to be posted) as well as a few Hairbows and dresses for Molly















All of these bows were inspired by this blog that I found on Pinterest. She has great tutorials on how to make these and many more-- I am sure I will try these tomorrow (or maybe later this evening). And the best thing is these are all made from FELT, which is so incredibly inexpensive and easy to work with!

I also tackled making a dress for Molly

I took a shirt she already had...


Picked out some coordinating material


And made a dress...



I am NOT a seamstress and this project was SO easy. It honestly took me about 40 minutes! The picture really doesn't do it justice, it's really cute.

If you have a minute you should definitely check put Pinterest--it's wonderful!

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Thursday, November 17, 2011

Math Mammoth - TOS Review

Anyone with kids can tell you that all children are different. And anyone that teaches children can tell you that all children learn differently. This is one of the reasons we homeschool--to give each of our children a custom-tailored education!

The different ways children learn seems, to me, to be the most noticeable in the area of Math. We tried 4 different Math programs with Paul before we found the right "fit". With Zach we were on our second curriculum, and it wasn't working. Math is his strongest subject and in Kindergarten we didn't like the curriculum so I just did Math with him in everyday activities and added a few worksheets along the way. He enjoyed Math. This year, in 1st grade, we started a new curriculum and he began to dislike Math, so I knew we needed to change before this dislike became stronger. We were looking at various curriculum and were given the opportunity to review Math Mammoth.


Math Mammoth has several different options:

The Blue Series--WorkTexts by topic (grades 1-6)
The Light Blue Series--Full Curriculum (grades 1-6)
The Golden Series--Worksheets by Grade (grades 3-8)
The Green Series--Worksheets by Topic (grades 3-7)


Between all of the series Math Mammoth offers options for grades 1st-8th. We were given the chance to choose which series we wanted to review. Since we were looking at new curriculums I chose to go ahead and try the Light Blue Series Grade 1 and I am very glad that I did. Zach, once again, looks forward to his Math lessons. The lessons are focused and fairly short. There is a good bit of mental Math, which is great for Zach because that is definitely a strength for him, and something I want to build on.

The previous program we used was very visually appealing. It was brightly colored and there were pictures on the page. For many this is not a problem. For Zach, it was distracting. He struggles with focus anyway, so he doesn't need anything to draw his attention away from the task at hand. Math Mammoth is very simple and has very few colors on the page. His attention is directed to the actual learning of Math.

The book strives to teach the concepts and patterns in mathematics, not just rote memorization (though that is important too when it comes to math facts). The concepts are introduced in ways that are easily understood by the student without a lot of extra "fluff". For example, a simple number-line is shown to demonstrate addition. There are no bunnies or frogs to jump across the number-line, just a simple number-line. Though many first grade teachers I know would be appalled to think that a 6 year old learns about number lines without some type of animal hopping across it, for Zach, the animal becomes something to distract him. I can see a story about the animal brewing in his head. Now, with a simple number-line, I can see math concepts brewing in his head!


Math Mammoth offers their books in both a downloadable format as well as a printed book. The full first grade curriculum is only $34.00 for download. You can also purchase If you would like to see samples and learn more about what each grade level teaches take a look here. If you aren't looking for a complete curriculum but perhaps just some help on particular topics don't forget to look at their other series.

To see what other TOS Crew Members thought go here.

Disclosure: We received a downloadable copy of this product in exchange for an honest review. There was no other compensation given for this review. All opinions expressed here are my own honest opinion.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Bower Books - The Person I Marry - a review

I pray daily that there are 3 sets of parents out there raising 2 Godly girls and 1 Godly Man that my 2 boys and baby girl will one day fall in love with and marry. I pray for specific character traits for each of my children and their respective future spouses. I pray that my children will look to Him when they are choosing their spouse. The person you marry sets the tone for your entire life. Who you marry means a life full of love and happiness or a life full of despair. It is the most important decision, besides salvation, that my children will make. In today's world so many people take marriage too lightly. They don't discuss it with their children. They don't pray about it. They marry for so many wrong reasons. The book "The Person I Marry " takes all the aspects one should look for in a spouse and writes them a beautiful, heart-warming children's book.


The book is published through Bower Books It is written and illustrated by the husband and wife team, Gary and Jan Bower. The pictures in the book are done in a Norman Rockwell style of oil paintings and are absolutely beautiful. Jan Bower used their own 12 children as inspiration for the paintings. The book is hardcover and 32 beautifully illustrated pages. The words are written in a rhyme that really invites the reader to keep reading. The reader (or listener) is reminded of all the qualities that are truly important for a spouse to have. It looks past all of the things today's world looks at. It looks past all of the outside beauty and gently reminds us of what my Mom always says "beauty is only skin deep". It also gives the reminder to "look before you leap".

"The Person I Marry" is available from Bower Books for 11.99. It would really make a great gift for any child, at any age. Or, even for that special teenager or early twenties "child" who is seriously starting to look for that perfect mate. We received the e-book for review but I will be ordering the hardcover book so we can read many more times.

Molly, being 4, dreams about her wedding. She was in her cousins wedding this summer and we attended 4 others of close friends and family. She talks about the colors as well as her dress and she wants to look like a princess. I try to emphasize the marriage, instead of the wedding, but, since she is 4, the wedding is all she really thinks about--which is absolutely fine. With her thoughts on weddings she really enjoyed this book. She currently wants to marry Daddy or one of her brothers so this book will grow with her and remind her of all the character traits she sees in Daddy that she will want in her husband one day. The boys are not as enthralled with the book but the lessons are definitely for them too. Even if they won't curl up beside me and listen they are typically within earshot and will hear the valuable truths of the book. You can see a short clip of this beautiful book through Vimeo

The Person I Marry from Bower Books on Vimeo.



Don't forget to go check out what other Crew members have to say here

Disclosure: I received and e-book version of this book for free for purposes of this review. All opinions expressed here are my own, honest opinion. No other compensation was given for this review.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Can YOU Homeschool???

YES, you most definitely can! If I can, then anyone can!

Most people say, "it makes sense for you to homeschool, your degree is in education". When we first started this adventure I just agreed with them, now the reply depends on who it is. But, inside I am saying to myself "my degree in education did nothing to prepare me for homeschooling!". For that matter, my degree in education did very little to prepare me for the years I actually taught school...but that's a different story.

Ultimately the reason we homeschool is because God convicted my heart as well as Steve's and we are in total agreement that this is God's will for our lives and the lives of our children.

I have been wanting to do a post on all the reasons we homeschool but it just never got written. Then, I ran across this post on "50 Reasons Why I could NEVER homeschool" and it pretty well sums it all up. So, this is for anyone out there that is even considering homeschooling!

My thoughts on a few of my favorites...

1. …I’m too disorganized. I am EXTREMELY disorganized--just ask my husband--but we have found a system that works for US.


5. …My husband/family won’t let me. I never had this concern with Steve. Thankfully, he has always been a HUGE supporter and encourager. But, I definitely understand this concern. All, I can say is talk about it--openly and honestly, you might be surprised. I truly would have never dreamed that Steve would be so "pro-homeschooling"

7. …I don’t want my child to end up like that weird homeschooled kid I know. Personally, I am ok with my kids being a little different, weird--nope I don't think they are weird, although I do know some weird homeschoolers. Your kids are most likely going to be like you--so if you're weird they will be too. But, if you're a well-adjusted normal person, they will be too!


12. …All my children’s friends go to public/Christian school. Most of our kids friends go to our church's Christian school. It does take a little effort to have "play-dates" with them. But, on the other hand, I know who my kids are spending time with, and I can even choose (to some degree) who their friends are by picking who comes over.

22. …I have a life and social commitments, and I’m not giving those up. Remember, you are the parent of a precious child, it really should be about what's best for them. Plus, you really don't have to give up anything, just rearrange.



23. …I don’t want to wear a denim jumper, put my hair in a bun, kill my own chickens, or have 18 children. This one cracks me up! I do know a couple families very close to this stereotype, but homeschooling does not mean you have to be any different then you are right now.


33. …My baby/toddler takes up too much of my time. The first few years with toddlers around we're REALLY tough but it can be done, and the relationship that my kids have with each other is amazing, and so worth the extra work of having them all home all the time.


37. …I’m not creative. I have a little bit of creativity, but mostly I get ideas from the Internet. And now, with Pinterest, who needs creativity!

40. …Homeschooling takes too much time, and it takes more time each year as the kids get older. It does take alot of time! But, it actually takes less time as the kids get older and can work more independently. And what a better way to spend your time then teaching your kids!


.43. …I can’t teach art. Dump all of your crafty supplies on the floor and Art just happens. Library books can guide you into specific artistic techniques, but creativity is built in to all children.

45. …My child is too active to keep up with. The boys have practiced spelling and handwriting with sticks in the dirt and called out Math facts while jumping on the trampoline! I can't imagine sticking them in a classroom all day. Zach would come home in tears everyday I am sure.


48. …I don’t have an extra room in my house for a classroom. You don’t need one. We were blessed to have the extra space for a "classroom" but then I figured out that I didn't want to emulate school, I wanted our lives to be the classroom. So, now all "seat work" is done at the kitchen table. Everything else just happens all over the house.

49. ...I don’t want to homeschool. If this is the case then just pray about it and see where He leads you. Remember, it's not all about you, but it's about what is best for your kids.



We LOVE homeschooling and can't imagine it any other way! I am not saying I don't get worn out and totally frustrated some days. But the good outweighs the bad and we are thankful for the blessings that God has given us in our three children and the blessing He has given us through homeschooling them. We are doing our very best to raise them for His Glory.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Scarf Making Mania

So, I think I am addicted to Pinterest and I also think I am becoming addicted to making scarves! I am not usually one to wear scarves, but these t-shirt scarves are SO easy to make that I might just have to start wearing them. You can see my first t-shirt scarf here.

Now, I have found an even easier version of the t-shirt scarf. I forgot to take pictures all the way through, but here's a quick tutorial:

Find an old t-shirt that you don't wear anymore. Cut the hem off the bottom and then cut several strips (cut through both layers of the shirt) about 1 1/2 inches wide. In the picture here you can see the shirt with the strips already gone. I got seven strips from this shirt before I got to the design that is on the front (saved the design for another project).


Now stretch the strips/circles as much as you can. They will curl up around the edge. Then you will have circles that look like this:


Put them all together and you have this


You can wear it like this:


Or like this:


Super easy and fun! It would make a great gift for your tween/teen girls to make for their friends!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Monday, November 7, 2011

2011 Homeschool Blog Awards!

My blog was nominated for "Best Homeschool Mom Blog"!!!! I am honored to be nominated, so THANK YOU, to whoever nominated me!

If you would like to vote go here

There are lots of categories and lots of nominees so if you have a few minutes take a look around, there are some great blogs nominated this year!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Ooka Island Adventure - a review

As I have mentioned before Molly is really dying to learn to read proficiently.  She is constantly asking me to help her with reading and writing.  So, when the opportunity came along to review a 3-D adventure computer program for learning how to read we were more than happy to give it a shot.  Ooka Island is designed for pre-K through 2nd graders who are developing their reading skills.
"The Ooka Method combines phonological development and language-rich text with comprehension activities so that children have the opporunity to achieve effortless reading."
When your child signs in to Ooka Island for the first time they will create an avatar that will then help them around the island, along with "Zobot".  In each lesson your child will go through various activities teaching new sounds.  The first couple of sounds were just basic letter sounds but then they very quickly moved in to special sounds, such as "sh" "ee" and "oo".   I found that interesting and wasn't sure if that was the best thing for Molly.  Afterall, everyone else learns the 26 basic letter sounds first and then moves on to the special sounds and various phonograms.  However, Molly loved it, because it helped her to read even more words more quickly.  For Molly she knows her letter sounds already so to jump right in and learn a few other sounds worked for her.  

The activities are carefully planned to teach many different reading skills in one session.  In each session the student works through the following activities.

The Cave of Sounds: Auditory recognition of sounds, letter sound correspondence, identifying initial and final consonant sounds
Popcorn Library: Reading Comprehension and fluency skills
Alphabet Mountain: Identifying and sequencing upper and lower case letters
Bubbly Trubbly: letter-sound correspondence
The Cake Factory: Letter-sound correspondence, segmenting, blending and decoding
Submarine Listening: Identifying vowels in initial, middle, and final positions
Word Ball: Auditory discrimination between syllables and words, decoding
Clumsy-Wacky Moving Company: Blending onset and rime, Blending sounds into words, Rhyming

After 20 minutes of guided play the student is then given 8 minutes of free play in the "Pencil Playground."

Molly really enjoyed all of the activities as well as the free play in "Pencil Playground".  Since she is only 4 I did need to be close by for the first few sessions to make sure she understood how everything worked, but after that she was great to play on her own.  She would play for as long as I let her and asked for "Ooka Island" daily.  It has been a great tool for her as well as a great way for her to work on even more reading skills when I can't be working directly with her.  Ooka Island makes learning to read fun.

You can get a subscription to Ooka Island for the prices listed below:
They are currently running a special for 30% off the monthly subscription.
Ooka Island also offers corresponding books that would work great with the computer program.  You can take a look at all they have to offer here.

You can take a look at what other Crew Members have to say here.

Disclosure-We were given a subscription to Ooka Island for review purposes. All opinions expressed are my own honest opinion. No other compensation was given for this review.



Saturday, November 5, 2011

My first Pinterest Project!!

I have recently been introduced to Pinterest, and WOW is about all I can say! So many great ideas! I am totally floored at the talent that is it there!

Anyway, I have pinned a few things and came up with lots of good Christmas ideas! So, wheni had a spare 30 minutes this afternoon I decided to give the t-shirt scarf a try! It was SUPER easy and cost me nothing except for an old t-shirt I didn't wear anymore! Since this one was just practice I wasn't picky about the color.

A quick tutorial...

Find an old t-shirt, a XL will work best. All I had was a large, but I made it work just to see if I like the idea.


Use a 9 inch plate and draw circles to be cut out on the shirt. These didn't show up in the picture but I made 4 circles on each side.



As I mentioned this was for practice so I didn't worry that I included the "tag less tag" on the shirt or the fact that the front of the shirt had a print on it. The circles don't have to be perfect either, so that's an extra bonus and saves a little time.


Then you just spiral cut the circles and you have 8 long squiggly pieces of fabric




Put them all together, tie in a loose not around the neck and "ta-da" a "shabby-chic" scarf. Now, next time I will use bigger circles (the instructions i have seem say use a 9-inch plate but since I had a smaller shirt I used a smaller circle. I will also cut the fabric wider to make it a bit bulkier. But I was happy with the results. I also put a pin that I had in the middle but I tried it later without the pin and it looked good that way too. I think I am going to try a punk and black version next, I'll be sure and blog about the outcome of that one.






--Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Memoria Press - Phonics and Reading - A Review

Molly is dying to learn how to read.  She says "I am the 'onwy' one that can't "wead' in our family".  She picks up everything and tries to read it.  She loves to sit in the library area of the house and "read" her books.  She loves to be read to, and loves to listen to books on tape.  So, my biggest goal for her this year is for her to learn to read.

We started out the school year with the same curriculum the boys used in 4-year preschool (the boys both attended preschool at out church school).  It's a great curriculum, but it was a bit slow for her.  So, I was looking  for a more advanced K-4 program or a K-5 program that I could slow-down a tiny bit for her.  Then, as God always does, He worked it out and we were given the opportunity to review Memoria Press' Kindergarten phonics curriculum!  
We were asked to review the "First Start Reading" Program as well as "Classical Phonics"

"First Start Reading" comes with a Teacher's Guide and 3 books for the student to work through.  The three books combined cover consonant and vowel sounds, 45 common words, and manuscript writing. When moving in to later lessons simple dictation is begun as well. 

First Start Reading

In the previous program we used Molly was not happy because it took so long for her to be reading real words--after 2 months she was still going over blends.  After the first lesson in "First Start Reading" she was reading real words.  We are taking this book very slow, and in 6 weeks time we are only on lesson 15.  Molly is only 4 1/2 so I am wanting to make sure we have a solid foundation with lots of time for review and game playing, but she is happy because she is READING!  At this stage she is reading sentences such as "A fat rat sat".  Another aspect I really like about this program is that it does not use the "ladder approach" of consonant-vowel blending, but instead uses word families and vowel-consonant blending.  The other approach worked fine for the boys but Molly is really flourishing with the word family approach, and I feel it helps her read more quickly, which is what she needed.  "First Start Reading" offers lots of built in review and I love the fact that it is also our writing program--one book and one lesson and we have gotten in phonics and handwriting for the day.  At this young age short lessons are best.    By the end of the program the student will be reading stories such as the following:
Here is the queen!  The queen has come home.  Do you see the queen?  What does the queen do? The queen sees her pets.  Her pets are Gus the dog and Tom the cat.  What does the queen have?  She has figs and nuts and jam.  She has ham and yams.
Do you see the queen? The queen met her ten men.  Her ten men are Ron and Don, Bob and Rob, Dan and Hal, Ned and Ted, and Rex and Tex.  They fix and mop and wax her home.  Then they rest.
Do you see the queen?  She sits in the sun.  She said "I have come home to see the pets and ten men.  Here they are.  Yes, they are the best." 
"First Start Reading" is very simple without lots of colorful pictures to distract the child.  There are pages for the student to color and places for them to draw and color their own pictures.  We are thoroughly enjoying this program and are so thankful for the blessing of reviewing this!  The curriculum is available here for a very reasonable $29.95.

There are sample pages available here:

The other book we received for review was "Classical Phonics" also published by Memoria Press.  This is a simple book that works well with any phonics program.  In the first section each letter is introduced with the letter and a few simple pictures that start with that letter. 
As letters and their sounds are introduced word lists are added at the bottom of the page.  After all the letters are shown there are pages of word lists that go with phonics rules.  This book is meant as a supplement and it does that very well.  It is great practice for reviewing the sounds we have already learned.  I have also used it with Zach to review phonics rules.  For example there is a list of silent letter words.  
This book can be used all the way from first learning to read until about second grade.  It covers almost all of the phonograms taught through second grade.  The lists are very effective in making sure that your child knows the rules, since there aren't any picture clues for the words.  This simple, but extremely effective and important book can be purchased here for only $14.95.

Memoria Press offers a wide assortment of homeschool material such as Latin, Greek, Logic, Literature and much more.  Some members of the Crew were given the opportunity to review the Latin program as well as the Phonics Program above.  You can take a look at what others had to say about these programs here.

Disclosure-These products were given to me for review purposes. All opinions expressed are my own honest opinion. No other compensation was given for this review.